Enjoying the fruits of their labour

A group of green-fingered volunteers are sowing some happiness into the lives of the elderly in Cookstown.

Emma Blee met up with the group to find out more.

The growing cost of food and an increase in the number of people eager to learn new skills has turned out to be the perfect recipe for a lunch club in Cookstown.

An Age Concern group in the town runs the club five days a week and a meals-on-wheels service six days a week. As vegetable prices began to soar, so too did their running costs and organisers became worried about whether it could continue.

It was only when 86-year-old member Annie Johnston offered the group her garden as an allotment space that a unique and efficient plan emerged.

Members got together and decided that they would recruit volunteers to look after the gardens of older people in the community, who were no longer able to manage the sites themselves.

They would use the space to grow vegetables, which could then be used to prepare food for the lunch club and meals-on-wheels.

It wasn’t long until the local branch of the Prince’s Trust jumped on board to provide volunteers for the scheme.

Around 10 unemployed young people aged between 16 and 25 take part in 10-week schemes, which now include working in the allotments.

Many of the young people in the town needed to gain practical experience and learn essential skills in order to find employment and in return they were able to provide a sustainable lunch service for the elderly.

They prepare the ground and grow a wide variety of vegetables including potatoes, onions, broccoli, beetroot, lettuce, peas and brussel sprouts.

Sean McElhatton, who organises the Prince’s Trust scheme, said it allows the individuals to “get good experience” as well as “giving something back to the community”.

Network Personnel, a community training and employment organisation, also put forward local man Patrick Sweeney to help Age Concern with their project. He had been unemployed for over 30 months but Age Concern offered him a fixed-term job through the Steps to Work scheme and he now helps to maintain the allotments and deliver fresh produce to the lunch club.

Margaret Gilbert, who organises the club, said it had been relatively “easy to set up” and was definitely worth the effort as it has brought down the cost of the lunch club and attracted more members.

“The vegetables that we produce in the garden are taken out as we need them for the lunch club and brought up to the restaurant on the same day that we eat them. They know that they are getting a fresh lunch. They say they can smell the fresh vegetables in the food.”

A bus picks up those who attend the club and returns them home. Gilbert says that some members “wouldn’t normally get out” if the service wasn’t in place. However, the members also do their bit to contribute to the lunches as they all work together in the afternoons to shell batches of peas.

Word spread quickly about the freshly cooked lunches and more have people flocked in. The club is now host to around 40 people each day and a further 44 meals are sent out through the meals on wheels scheme.

The volunteers have recently had to move to larger premises to accommodate the growing demand for services and have taken over a former restaurant – the O4O − on Main Street.

Annie Johnston said that the club is a good opportunity to catch up with friends. She commented that some of her friends and relatives have even travelled from Belfast and Randalstown to the club.

“I just wish a lot more people would come and enjoy the lunch club. They would have a good healthy lunch and a chit-chat with others. There is always some good chat and jokes down there,” she remarked.

The project is funded by O4O, a European Union project, which is part of the Northern Periphery programme. Through the scheme, Queen’s University’s School of Sociology has provided business mentoring and helped find funding and partner organisations.The university has provided the group with several weeks of business training, including financial management skills.

It has been such a success that volunteers and members of the group have visited O4O projects in Finland to share their experiences.